Doubles (Season 4, Episode 21)
Premise: When a world-ranked teenage tennis player is attacked before a tournament, the case moves from an obsessed fan to her rival and finally to the player herself.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 4, Episode 21
- Detectives
- Det. Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach), Det. Mike Logan (Chris Noth)
- ADAs/DA
- Exec. ADA Ben Stone (Michael Moriarty), ADA Claire Kincaid (Jill Hennessy), DA Adam Schiff (Steven Hill)
- Guest stars
- John Heard as Mitch Burke, Stacey Moseley as Korey Burke, Allison Dunbar as Allison Marissa Hall, Holt McCallany as Marc Kenner, Peter Jacobson as Dr. Karl Styne, Carolyn McCormick as Dr. Elizabeth Olivet
- Director
- Ed Sherin
- Writers
- Michael S. Chernuchin & René Balcer
Summary
The Investigation
“Doubles” starts at a Manhattan tennis club, where Korey Burke, the world’s fifth-ranked women’s player, is attacked near the locker room a week before a tournament. A man punches her and breaks her wrist with what looks like a stick, then escapes through a fire exit. Her father and manager, Mitch Burke, hands over a letter from an obsessed fan named Alan who wrote that he hoped she would never play again, and Korey says a caller had threatened her.
Alan Lovitz, a pipe salesman with an apartment full of Korey memorabilia, lacks a firm alibi, but Korey does not pick him out of a lineup. A second, unsigned threat turns up in her gym bag while Lovitz is out of town, and Dr. Olivet says it does not fit his pattern. The detectives turn to Allison Hall, Korey’s childhood rival and practice partner, ranked 82nd and due to face her in the first round. A bartender ties Allison to bouncer Marc Kenner, and when told his jacket is being tested for Korey’s blood, Kenner says Allison paid him $10,000.
The Trial
Allison is charged with assault and conspiracy, but Kenner recants, and the judge throws out his confession because the detectives misled him about forensic evidence they did not have. Korey wants the case dropped and reveals she wants to quit tennis. Kincaid suspects Mitch, who co-owns Korey’s corporation and would lose endorsement money if she simply quit, but he angrily denies it. The prosecutors learn that Korey has had a string of minor accidents, and her psychiatrist, Dr. Styne, says athletes under pressure can become self-destructive.
Over objections from Korey’s lawyer and her father, a judge orders her diary turned over. Entries describe meeting Kenner and trusting him to handle something her father would never know about. Faced with a new charge, Kenner says Allison hired him at Korey’s request to hurt her without injuring her badly, and Allison is indicted.
Spoiler, the ending: Korey comes to the DA’s office with her father and admits the attack was her idea and that she gave Allison the money. She tells her father she only wanted to be loved for herself. Stone recommends probation and 100 hours of community service for both young women, teaching tennis to underprivileged children.
Why it stands out
- Monica Seles is mentioned in a discussion of security for women’s tennis players.
- The judge suppresses Kenner’s confession on due process grounds, even though the 1986 Moran decision allows some police deception during questioning.